At Shyaraya, the king's office. At night time.

King Arexé was checking the documents he was working on when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in"

It was the Prime Minister, Ime Inis.

"I have come to report"

"I know"

Came a succinct reply from King Arexé.

"First is the report regarding the on going construction. The outer layer of the wall that surrounds the fertile farmlands area has been fully completed. It is estimated that the inner layer walls in smaller scale will be done in two weeks"

A wall surrounding an area with a diameter of tens of kilometers built within a week was a proof of the join might of the races in regards of construction.

"The outer layer had already been proven to be capable of absorbing the impact of a high level magic with physical properties continuously. Based on the experiment and observations report of the creature in Zido Kingdom's territory, it's known that the creature is incapable of using magic, but possesses a strength which might be comparable to a dragon and agility belying their size, it's deduced that it's more agile than the most agile elf. While for its temperament was aggressive, with seemingly inexhaustible stamina. Even until now it's still rampaging within its entrapment. Although we can't be sure yet whether the wall's defensive capability is suffice to withstand the hundreds of thousands of those creatures attack because we didn't have sufficient firepower nor man power to do such test"

"........"

Hearing what was being reported, King Arexé was frowning.

At best, these walls are only going to be a stop gap or as a mean to buy time until we find a method to annihilate them.

As King Arexé was thinking, Ime Inis continued his reports.

"Our expert researchers and magic researchers from Felleto along with Master Gandu had arrived this afternoon on the entrapment site in Zido's territory to help with the research of killing the creature in question"

After Ime reported the summary on the report paper he's holding, he moved to another page.

"Next, in regards with material supply. Voce, the leader of Merchant City Guja sent a report that his side had secured sufficient materials and steady suppliers. As of now, there are no problems with the fund, the quantity and quality of the materials, and the amount of suppliers"

Ime Inis took a deep breath before he continued his report.

"In regards to Guja's called for reinforcement this afternoon, for now the hundreds of monsters had been entrapped in an open dome by our magicians which were sent there. There's also unconfirmed report from Guja's guard who first noticed the attack that he felt that the number after the monsters being sealed was less than what the guard was seeing. For now, the only thing the Guja side could do is keeping a thorough observation on it. Other than that, there isn't anything significant affecting Guja's traffic in economy"

"Still in regards with the situation in Guja, we also have received a report from the magician leader. He's sure that the monsters are indeed the humanoid monsters that attacked us"

"He had also conveyed Your Majesty's order to report and investigate about THE woman to the spy in Guja. It was reported that THE woman has indeed come to Guja, she had arrived before noon"

When THE woman was being mentioned, King Arexé's eyes shone with interest.

"For now, it's known that the woman in question, bear the name Willa. Her origin is still unknown, but the spy who was acting as a guard at the gate said that she was on the travel when she got chased by monsters resulting in her loosing her luggage. She paid the gate toll with a peculiar common-looking silver ring which was actually magic item with the effect of lessening fatigue"

"Be more detail"

Requested King Arexé. Ime Inis, being more experience in regard to romance and woman than his king, noticed that his king has an interest to the woman, the kind of interest which has the tiny bud of affection. But for now, his king's interest was more of a curiosity than affection. Ime Inis smiled warmly in his heart.

"Because our spy considered that the silver ring was much more than the entrance toll, he helped her by selling it and return the money to her after he's done his shift. So he told her to wait for him at the Dancing Horse tavern, one of the most well-known tavern for merchants and travellers alike in Guja"

"When our spy arrived at the said tavern, and gave her the money promised to her, he was treated to a drink and invited to join her table"

"........"

The king had unhidden frown on him and he felt a little bothered that his subject was being invited to a drink by a woman he's being curious with.

Ime Inis who watched his king frowning from the report about the woman, Willa, almost couldn't help but showed a smile to this aspect of King Arexé.

I don't think I mind to have a queen like that to accompany my king. But we have to make sure of her background first. At the very least, we need to know whether she's a hostile element or not.

Thought Ime.

"While he was drinking, he noticed that the young merchant is a textile merchant by the name of Toine, he travelled with his father. The woman was offering to sell him a fabric, in which, after the young merchant appraised it, it was considered a national treasure grade magic cloth. The fabric absorbed mana without excess, which means it has a hundred percent mana conductivity. The young merchant judged that the fabric is much more expensive than the most expensive Kaisar magic cloth"

While King Arexé was listening to Ime's report, he was feeling impatient because what he heard wasn't about the woman, Willa. He was tapping his desk with his index finger.

"Plus, the fabric has a nature to infinitely grows in size under certain conditions"

The sound of desk tappings got louder, Ime noticed that his king was feeling impatient.

"I shall let His Majesty read the detail report of the fabric later, I shall continue the report about the woman"

King Arexé nodded, he stopped tapping his desk.

"Once they're done negotiating, the young merchant went to discuss the offer with his father. Our spy at the time hadn't received his order yet, his shock from the quality of the fabric made him accidentally ask the identity of the woman, in which she replied with the statement that she's a traveller who came from the world above, the Himaseru. Before he could talk to her more, the attack happened. That concluded today's report, the rest are in this reports"

Ime handed over a bunch of report papers to King Arexé.

"I need 50 soldiers to accompany me to Guja"

"For what purpose, Your Majesty?"

"I have to test whether I could take on one of those creatures"

"But Your Majesty! If something happen, it would decrease morale!"

"Ime...morale could be increased. What we need now is for others to be aware of the danger that humanoid possess. I AM the only one fit as a measurement. If even I cannot defeat one of them, it would make them notice the danger. I have a premonition, if all of us,truly all of us including common people, do not hold hand together, we will perish"

So far, King Arexé's premonition about danger was always spot on. He could gauge the danger level because he's the strongest. One or hundreds of those humanoid monsters might be able to be sealed away, but hundreds of thousands or might even be millions of them are impossible to be sealed away when even his forces who matched the empire and the entire kingdoms combined might couldn't even put a scratch on one of them.

"By your will...I shall take care of matters here"

".....and I want to meet her again"

"Your Majesty......"

Ime Inis smiled warmly while he's looking at his king being this innocent.

"I really want to wipe that smug of yours with my fist"

"Hahaha, you know that's a bit impossible Your majesty"

Ime's response made King Arexé smiled. Indeed it was a bit impossible. This Prime Minister was so tough King Arexé would prefer to fight several dragons instead.

"Then, I shall inform of Your coming to Guja to Voce so he clut prepare a sufficient reception"

"No need. I go there in the capacity of a warrior, not a king"

"Even if you say that, their side would still prepared one for you"

"Then at least tell him to make it into a casual reception"

"If you insist. I shall go now"

"Hm"

Once Ime Inis gone, King Arexé was taking out a cloth that exuded so much mana from his inner clothes pocket and stared at it with a gentle eyes.

"...Willa...."

It was Willa's cloth which she's using to dry herself.

==================================================================

Right after Willa concluded her business with the father and son and the bank they seperated because Anton and Toine still has some business to attend too.

The sun had already set once she's done.

So, she went back to the Dancing Horse tavern and asked the tavern master about the location of a good Inn, with an affordable price.

That tavern master pointed her to an inn right beside the tavern. It's actually an inn who has the same owner as this tavern.

So she's heading to the aforementioned Inn. It's less than a minute walk before she's arrived in front of the inn.

"................................."

Willa held her urge to retort out loud.

Because the name of the inn was "The Shut-Inn".

She went in and booked a room.

The inn keeper was a middle-aged lady around late 30s or early 40s. Willa needed to call her several times because the lady was staring at Willa in a daze.

Thankfully, this inn was simply an inn. The first floor was a dining room for the guests to eat, and drink anything else besides alcohol because the inn didn't provide them. 

Because it had passed dinner time, it's empty on the first floor. So she wouldn't bother anyone when she called out to the inn keeper lady in loud voice.

The price for one night without meal was 25 Roops. She immediately paid for four nights.

Her room was on the first room on the left of the second floor.

The room was simple, but nice enough that would make people feel that they're at home.

There were a single person bed, a simple desk and a chair, a small wardrobe and a small safe, and a shower chamber on the corner of the room near the window.

Here I thought that similar to medieval fantasy, I have to wipe my body with a hand towel and a bucket of water. Still, it is only a shower room, it seems? Ah, there is not a toilet for number 2.

Although magic stone that could produce water was affordable for the masses, not every inn had a shower box that occupied 100cm x 100cm space within the room made out of blurry glass.

By comparison, the cheapest inn in this city costs 7 Roops, while the most expensive, usually visited by high ranking people, costs 2500 Roops per night. While common people's income was around 500 Roops per month.

Willa took off her equipments and took a shower. 

It is an ordinary water here too. Was the water in the Hideout the only one who has the properties to thoroughly cleaned, removed bodily odours, and revitalised the body?

With her body feeling refreshed, Willa re-equipped her Saint's Undergarments and got on the bed.

Hmm~ comfy...I think I should close my eyes for a moment before midnight. Those monsters need to be vanquished.

Feeling her eyelids got heavier, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

==================================================================

"*Yawn*......"

Willa got up and sat on top of the bed. Her right shoulder strap fell to her arm and it almost showed off her right breast completely if the fabric wasn't sticking to the tip of her mountains.

She waited for a bit before she's a bit more awake and then got up to wash her face using the shower.

She still feels sleepy, but she re-equipped and ready to hunt down the monsters.

So she decided to come out of the window.

But when her eyes shifted that way, she realized that there's light coming in.

"Eh?"

She opened up her window and the sun shone brightly on her, blinding her eyes a bit.

"It is almost at noon?"

Yes, she overslept.

Because the window was facing the main street, there's many pedestrians walking by.

Naturally, whether by reflex or curiosity, some would turned their gaze to a window which was suddenly got opened.

Those few people who was watching the opened window, stopped on their track immediately as if a video being paused.

A Goddess....

They thought.

Because those people stopped immediately, they got hit by another pedestrians walking by. One of them got angry and yelled "hey! Don't stop walking all of sudden!".

But because those people who was watching Willa didn't respond, the people whose walking were obstruct shifted their gaze to Willa too.

Thus, the traffic was jammed even further.

Willa who had noticed that she's being stared at, gave a smile on the people below and closed the window.

Some people were grabbing their chest as if their heart was hurting.

Meanwhile, Willa got down to the first floor and ordered some light breakfast.

It's a steak.

Is a steak considered a light breakfast in this city?

Despite her wondering about that, Willa was joyfully enjoying her steak.

Hmm...the taste is similar to any other steak, but the meat tasted much better than beef, pork or lamb.

Once she's done, she's heading towards the fruit stall the kind old man she promised to buy from after she got money.

"Oh, hello there! Young lady"

"Hello, I have come as I had promised"

Willa smiled.

"I have come to buy some fruits. Are there anything in particular you would like to recommend me to buy?"

"Hahaha, apple is good! and cheap! But if you wanna splurge a bit, it's good ta eat watermelon in this season!"

"How much is it?"

"A slice fer 10 Roops!"

Replied the old man energetically.

"Then I shall buy the whole fruit, how much is it?"

"Wowser! Ye really knows how ta splurged yer Roops! It's 150 Roops, but I guarantee ye the taste is worth yer moneh!"

"Thank you"

Willa gave him the money and she received a watermelon as big as her head.

"Ya sure you could eat all of em, milady?"

"Fufufu, even when I look like this, I am quite the glutton"

She was rubbing her stomach as she said that.

"Fafafafah! Then you literally have a big guts ey? Here, a bonus for the little one!"

The energetically loud old man gave Willa an apple as an extra.

"Thank you once again"

"Fahfahfah, no problem! It's an honour to sell ye me stuff!"

"Have a nice day. I shall come back again tomorrow"

"Aye, take care the little one"

"? Yes, thank you"

Willa walked away towards the gate where the monsters were at.

The old man who watched her retreating back, thought.

So young, yet she has to travel alone while being pregnant. Stay strong young lady!

Cheered the old man in his heart.

He misunderstood Willa's gesture of rubbing her stomach which didn't not have any deeper meaning.

A bit away from the old man's fruit stall, there's Trey who was observing them. 

Trey decided to also buy fruit from him and ask him some stuff.

The old man knew about Trey, because he's often bought his fruit when Trey was resting.

"Oh? Trey boy, aren't ye a little early today?"

Greeted the old man.

"Hey, old man. My guard post got taken after all, so I'm on patrol duty now"

"Because the monsters trapped there ey? It made some commotion yesterday"

"Aye, fortunately we could quelled the panic before it got blown over the top and created bigger panic"

"Ye done us citizen a good job. Thanks boy"

"Sheesh old man, I'm almost 30 already, stop calling me a boy"

"Fafafafah, to me yer still a wee boy, lad!"

Trey smiled wryly looking at the laughing old man who always being full of energy and cheerful since the first time he knew him.

"Say old man, while I was coming here, I watched you talk with a beaut familiarly. Is she your acquaintance?"

Asked Trey, he tried to bait for an information.

"Nay, she a poor lady, that one. She arrived at this city without money on her. She asked me fer a direction to Dancing Horse yesterday, so I gave er a fruit and she promised to come back to buy somethin once she got money, and she did! Travelling in such a young age with a little one in her stomach, I prayed her well!"

"She's pregnant?"

"Aye, said she's got a big appetite while rubbing her stomach with a lovin gaze"

I need to report this. His Majesty would arrive here at midday, might as well sent a report to him. Gotta seek more information first.

"I see. Well then old man, hafta back on patrol"

"Aye. Here!"

The old man threw an apple which Trey received.

"Old man...you gave too many freebies, don't blame me if you go bankrupt!"

"Fafafafah! One apple won't make me broke!"

"Thanks old man!"

Trey got back on patrol, but he's heading the same way as Willa. His investigation continues.

====================================================

That noon, King Arexé and his fifty royal guards arrived at Guja, Merchant City.

It's the prelude of what's going to give Willa a headache in the future.